Senate Republicans cheer NRLB ruling

Senate Republicans cheered a court victory Friday striking down appointments President Barack Obama made to the National Labor Relations Board.

“The D.C. Circuit Court today reaffirmed that the Constitution is not an inconvenience but the law of the land, agreeing with the owners of a family-owned business who brought the case to the Court,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement.

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At the root of the case was Obama’s decision in January 2012 to appoint two NLRB members, after Senate Republicans made clear they would block any effort. Obama argued they were recess appointments — permissible under the Constitution — since the Senate was between sessions. But Senate Republicans disagreed, making the case the Senate had consistently remained in session.

A business owner sued over a decision the board made requiring his company to engage a union, contending that the appointments were invalid and therefore the board lacked enough members to issue rulings.

“It’s a very big win,” said Noel Francisco, the attorney who represented the plaintiff. “Presidents of both political parties for years have been using the appointment power in ways that are contrary to the Constitution.”

The ruling can impact both the previous decisions of the NLRB and the future of other appointees named in a similar fashion, Francisco said.

“These principles are not meant to protect the president, they’re not meant to protect Congress,” Francisco said. “They’re meant to circumscribe the power of government to protect individual rights.”

Forty-two Republican senators hired a lawyer to help fight the appointment.

”The appointments that the court invalidated here are only the latest in a long-running campaign by the executive to encroach on the Senate’s constitutionally prescribed role in the appointments process and to transform appointments into a one-man show,” said Miguel Estrada, the attorney who represented Senate Republicans.

The D.C. district court sided with the business owner, saying that Obama’s appointments didn’t qualify as recess appointments and therefore the board lacked a quorum and was unable to make any decisions.

“[T]he President made his three appointments to the Board on January 4, 2012, after Congress began a new session on January 3 and while that new session continued,” the court wrote in its decision. “Considering the text, history, and structure of the Constitution, these appointments were invalid from their inception.”

At the same time, Obama appointed Richard Cordray to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but the court did not rule on the validity of his appointment.